Can I change public hospitals?

I am supposed to give birth at Prince of Wales at the end of Aug, but this new policy about not allowing husbands in the room is really scaring me. I have read here and on Asiaxpat that fathers are not being allowed in the delivery room. Right now my husband and I are both going to classes at Annerly to prepare for a natural birth, but the whole idea behind it is that he will be part of the process and help to calm me down, etc. - however, if he is forbidden from the room, the idea of being alone in a hospital where I know no one and then having some strange nurses shouting at me to 'push' just completely freaks me out. How can I avoid this? I am willing to accept the whole 'no-frills' atmosphere in the public hospitals, but it seems inhumane to expect all women to want to be alone and scared while they give birth. I don't understand this policy at all and am not willing to accept it submissively. Does anyone know if I could I transfer to Queen Mary where they are supposed to more flexible in this respect? I live in Tai Po... Thanks for any suggestions - this is not something I want to be stressing over for the next 3 months.

Deliran, I sympathise with you, it's frustrating that the policies at the public hospital are driven by efficiency, but if they took a bigger picture perspective, they might find that it is more efficient to have hubbies helping expectant mums, calming them down, less reliance on the staff ect......

I'm not sure that you can change from POWH to QMH as they allocate services based on geographical reasons. If you have relatives in the QMH catchment area you could change to QMH. Having said this you could always try and ring up and see what they say.....

I would make sure with PoW what their official policy is also. It could well be that everyone on these forums is right but wouldn't you rather hear it from the horse's mouth? I remember everyone told me that for my husband to be allowed in he would have to have done some prep course and it was on the forums too but when I asked the nurses and the doctors at my public hospital they said it wasn't needed and he would definitely be allowed in and he was.

Also, not sure you should say you want to transfer unless you have a different address. How if you just go and register again?

i gave birth at PoW in March, and my husband was with me. I had a very quick delivery (only about 30 mins after being admitted...2nd baby...), but my husband was only away from me while he filled in the paperwork. I had heard that they weren't letting husbands in until a certain point (from hulda at annerley), but can't confirm that, as i'm pretty sure I was at that point when i got to the hospital!!

If you can't change hospitals, then I'd recommend getting to the hospital as late as possible (i.e. do as much of your labouring at home as you can). Annerley will be able to tell you when you should go to avoid being too late (i think contractions around 5 minutes apart was the advice i got).

I am registered to give birth at POW in Aug, but started to hear rumors about the hospital being very restrictive about allowing fathers in the delivery room a few months ago. The last time I saw an actual doctor (not a nurse) at POW, I asked for clarification and was told that I shouldn't expect to have my husband with me because it would depend on whether the other women in the room felt comfortable with having a man in the room. I then went to a private doctor at CUHK (where I work), as POW is a teaching hospital for this university and was pretty much told that I will not be able to have my husband with me at POW unless I transferred to a private room. In addition, a few weeks ago there was a post on Asiaxpat saying "Prince of Wales has become increasingly restrictive with allowing fathers into the room. I would try and give birth at the Queen Mary. They seem to be the most accommodating out off all the public hospitals." - this is what has inspired me to try to move to Queen Mary.
Maybe I am getting the wrong information, but I am really happy to be proved wrong in this case. Actually, I am not even scheduled to see another doctor or midwife through POW again until I give birth as my pregnancy is relatively low-risk, so the only information I'm going to get is from my infrequent visits to the Mother & Child clinic every month or so. I will go again next week and see if I can get more information, but somehow I doubt I'm going to get more than the vaguely negative statements I have been getting. I'm really not sure what to do.